Archive for the ‘Rickshaws’ Category

Even though many would not agree with me, I belive one of the most uniquely relaxing experiences that Dhaka city has to offer is a rickshaw ride through the twists & turns of its innumerable lanes & bylanes. The overall feeling is sort of difficult to explain, simply put – its is just a surge of serveal overwhelming sensations that all come at the same time. Maybe it is the light wind in my hair as the rickshaw wheezes by, or maybe its is the smooth changing scenery – it can even the funny “kring kring” noise of its horn that is so much more forgiving to the ears than those blaring car horns. On a recent ride in a rickshaw I noticed something obvious but rather interesting. In a car it is almost impossible to properly notice your surroundings since most of the time it is going to fast. However, in a rickshaw the speed is just right – to notice the smaller details. It is in a rickshaw that you can notice the name of the small grocery shop, or eavsdrop a bit of the vegetable sellers conversation. It may not seem much – but for me its the small details that make all the differece. To sum it up a a rickshaw ride is not just a meaningless transit – it is a story on three wheels!

Rickshaws also have to be registered by the code of Dhaka City Corporation and put a number plate in it as a mark of their identification. Though compulsory many rickshaw owners do not abide by the rules for saving a little money but on the other hand suffers from a whole loss of the vehicle itself at times. City Corporation at intervals releases mobile teams which checks the registrations of each rickshaw available at any given area. If any rickshaw doesn’t possess proper registration it is instantly confiscated and taken away to DCC vehicle dumping zones for termination. After such confiscations recently the owners are nowadays have become careful about the legal bindings of their vehicles and most of the rickshaws are registered.

During rainy days, when most of the places and streets ofthe cities are water logged, Rickshaws are the one and only way of transport by which people travel in calamities. During rainy season, due to poor drainage system the roads are flooded and causes mechanical problems to the fuelrun vehicles, which most of the times ceases being effected by water. Thus Rickshaw remains the only hope for people to move to their destination during most of the natural calamities .During these sort of natural calamities the Rickshaw-pullers charges more than the regular rate.

Dhaka city has eighty-five thousand legal rickshaws whereas it has more than six hundred-thousand rickshaws. It has been reported that more one lakh has joined them before the last Eid. Still it becomes awfully difficult to get a rickshaw during office going and coming time. Rickshaw pullers don’t want to go to the passengers’ expected places. They just wait in particular places to move to some particulars areas causing traffic jam as well as tremendous problems to the passengers. Law must be enacted to enhance the facilities of the passengers as well as to lessen the knot of traffic jam. Law must be mostly in favour of the passengers. If a rickshaw remains vacant and it must go to any passenger’s desired destination. It will lessen the passenger’s problem and decrease the jam.

In our country, it is quite easy to get a rickshaw to reach the destiny. We can see thousands of rickshaws in the road. Usually rickshaws are used for short distances, butsometimes we also ride on rickshaws for long distances when it becomes difficult to find any other transport. Rickshaws are restricted in many big streets and main roads because it fuels up traffic jam. So at the edge of the streets where it link with the main roads the Rickshaws queue up and wait for the next passenger to arrive after deporting a passenger.

Rickshaw now-a-days in Dhaka is a very important part of our urban as well rural transport and our social heritage. Current day rickshaws have become an unavoidable mode of transport in most of the cases. Frequent oil price hikes, regular heavy traffic and various natural calamities compel a huge number of urbanites to use rickshaw as a major mode of their transportation. Rickshaws are also quite useful for short trips within adjacent areas as well citywide as Dhaka, being an old and Regal city possesses numerous routes that connects most of the areas with each other.

This picture was taken from the road of Dacca(now Dhaka) in the year 1954. Rickshaw was introduced in Dacca around early50’s.The Rickshaw in this picture looks bit different from the way it looks now.It has been a common way of transport since then.People used to ride on rickshaw for short distances.It was the cheapest form of transport for short distances.